free. free. free. video. free media. still stuck on the edge of its fiscal cliff now with. investigators ruling out possible causes for the deadly plane crash at a moscow airport. the. tragedy step by step. us from the rest of the middle east and the arab world money roller coaster the russian public political. the major events that shape.

it is so good to have you with us here on new year's eve special. live in moscow later though to be joined by kevin. trying to pull the u.s. back from the brink of the fiscal cliff it couldn't get much closer we're down to the wire just a few hours now americans will be hit hard by billions of dollars of tax hikes and spending cuts which will come into effect on tuesday republicans and democrats are now in a last minute effort to avert it as time rapidly runs out. reports. the u.s. congress created this cliff situation when they failed to agree on a budget that would help the country reduce its deficit and its you monger's debt and what they did was what they usually do they put off those important decisions until a certain deadline that deadline is now so they came up with this scary word cliff

to create lots of drama around what should be the ordinary maybe somewhat boring working process of any congress or parliament that is to agree on a budget the need to deadlines so the cliff which actually describes the mode in which the congress is working their inability to make decisions until the very very last minute the cliff that u.s. lawmakers have artificially created could become very real for the american people the vast majority of them over one thousand government programs would be cut it would hit the unemployed very hard to stop getting unemployment benefits there would be other automatic cuts and tax hikes that would mostly affect those who are financially insecure but everyone knows even if the lawmakers don't meet the january first deadline they can pass measures retroactively and at the end of the day they will decide something but congress seems to love the drama of the whole

cliff situation they have all the attention in the wall and literally the whole world the media of course help them hype it up and with the countdown they started two months ago and while politicians here are enjoying all that attention turning last minute scoring political points the hype around the scary word cliff is already hurting the economy experts say it's affecting business and consumer confidence if wall street is any indicator stocks have been falling for a fifth straight day on friday they called it a fiscal cliff slide other markets are reaching signals of certainty coming from the u.s. oil prices have soared in the asian markets ahead of a last minute effort in washington to win. deal on fiscal cliff that's what you read in so this whole charade in washington could have implications on many levels and the fiscal cliff which some call a product of u.s. lawmakers imagination could become

a self-fulfilling prophecy. if he's gone if you can reporting right now while congress has trouble sorting out a deal to prevent americans slipping into a tax black hole some agreements just seem to breeze on through charlie mcgrath from wide awake news explains what can the united states of america this is where we govern by crisis we don't have representatives in washington d.c. we have political prostitutes that will go before a camera and say that anything that they have to say is to keep this massive government rolling and you can make social interest influences in washington d.c. for that when the cameras are own you know if they're on the red team they're going out there saying it's the welfare folks as well that's the people on food stamps or the people in extended unemployment benefits if they're on the blue team they're coming out and trying to get their base fired up that it's all about their corporate interests and that this is why we can't come up with you but isn't it me is it when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion dollar nearly trillion dollar question defense bill they have no problem

whatsoever coming to coming together and holding hands to put that kind of a deal together i think ultimately the hammer is going to fall on the people of this country it is called austerity nobody in washington d.c. wants to own up to that austerity but eventually it's coming to this country. this is our. investigators are ruled out the condition of the runway is the cause for saturday's deadly plane tragedy at one of moscow's busiest airports the red wings to pull off a jet ski did off the runway and plowed into the embankment of a major highway five people who on board died three others are currently fighting for their lives as we speak. take a look at exactly how the disaster unfolded the twenty ninth of december the last working day of two thousand and twelve in russia. business. the next year families. jump into their cars and escape the busy capital. highway heads

to the west of moscow region where most of the luxury states and country houses are located traffic jams are common this time of the day this time of the year but one of the law of the road is almost. passengers come out of the car to see what the sound was think sex to see anything but not this. just what is this for that as simple as to call for one number nine to six i think is london is a little too i told him it was from the czech republic the plane touches down but can stall three kilometer on way they had but still the airline is moving too fast i think fear is true at that moment very slightly nose already they will not make

it the jets reaches the end of the runway runs into the fans but still continues moving it finally sold off overrunning the asteroid by four hundred meters the plane breaks into three paws and tail is lying over the whole year the road people can easily see its number or a stick for four seven the middle ball just bog misses away the cockpit is already partially damaged after the crash with a science falls right at the edge of the highway it's a miracle indeed the road is empty at that time this is a ten lane highway the wreckage is only on one of the lanes traffic continues on at least three here even after the tragedy says fashion by slowing down to see what happens they noses and left lane called street light on the road is a very road they usually drive every friday and everybody sings as that moment was eve i'd have call minutes earlier or was eve i'd have been on that airplane people

come also their cars and try to help out those in the cockpit how ready that. weather conditions technical failure and pilot error are among investigators main causes of the userland with most likely a combination of reasons behind the fatal crash however a plane hitting a busy highway in one of europe's biggest cities could have left a much more devastating trail of destruction there wasn't enough log for everyone on that saturday evening. party moscow region. for expert opinion on what may have caused the crash as well as details about the plane you can just head over to our web site. now the end over a year in britain also means plowing through tax return forms before the penalty deadline and many people though are already being penalized in the pocket simply by asking for help in filling out the forms out of the store. your annual tax return

persis that many adults find utterly daunting and perplexing luckily for the british public the tax man has a whole array of telephone helplines to help and advise people on how to fill in the piles of forms needed for it getting through to someone might be a bit of a problem though britain is spending watchdog says that last year some twenty million phone calls went on our by the government tax office and of those lucky enough to get through between the months of april and september over six million people had to wait for over ten minutes just to get an answer from someone and i've decided to give him revenue and customs premium priced phone line a call to find out how long it would take me to get through to them. i've spent three and a half minutes waiting for someone to pick up the phone. last year customers spent

an estimated thirty three million pounds in call charges just waiting to get through to somebody at the tax department exposing what critics call a shameful level of service him revenue and customs have released a statement saying that they've lowered the cost of calls to one of their premium phone lines the most popular one they also say that they're aware that they weren't able to deliver the standard of service that they're committed to in the past however they're now answering over ninety percent of the calls that are made to them but ultimately critics say that it's the complicated u.k. tax code that spans over seventeen thousand pages that british citizens find it so hard to get their head around and it's the telephone providers that are responsible for the helplines that of cashing in on all the tax confusion. i do all that with the new year just around the corner for us here in moscow we have prepared a special a farewell to the twenty twelve right here on don't miss our special

coverage live from several countries as well as spectacular images of the festivities also there were some forecasts of what to expect for two thousand and thirteen at us to come before midnight here in moscow and a recap of the major events of the outgoing year after this break. so how much does it take to get into russian politics how many hours of hard work and how many patriotic deeds does it take to become one of the people who make the decisions in the world's largest country well i'll tell you how much it takes exactly seven point five million euros russia's federal investigative committee has a stablish that allegedly he of and constantine should show of from fair russia and the commies prospectively promised for a fee to get

a businessman on to their party's electoral lists getting him a spot in the lower house of the duma the investigators have forwarded the state duma an official request to strip the two m.p.'s of their parliamentary immunity and you're darn right they better street have their parliamentary immunity stripped i mean what's worse than government corruption some people in the government being so corrupt they can actually sell the government itself to someone for a fee so positions in parliament corruption on this high of a level needs to be punished severely breaking rocks in siberia or worse sounds pretty good to me tolerating flagrant corruption does not a great civilisation make but that's just my opinion. speak your language. programs. the. interview intrigued.

visit. to. find out what's really happening to the global economy. headlines. here in the russian capital. of course. it's already though two thousand and thirteen in some parts of the world including china japan singapore thailand as

well celebrations in full swing. in the far east and of chile siberia. will be. my critics have pointed out has reached its and along with the mayan calendar. but it looked more like this. a decade of war is a. good year for a new. well we're still here and when it comes down to it the world not only didn't end but very little changed in twenty twelve we have the same challenges facing the globe the same conflicts preventing peace the

same policies hampering solutions and many of the same people in power as we come into twenty thirteen so what will twenty twelve be remembered for let's take a look back. at some in gaza their world did and when israel launched a short but deadly campaign in response to rockets fired by hamas after one of their leaders was a front leading us solidly backed israel the critics claim the use of disproportionate force has become too common a practice for your trail a defense force journalist also being targeted and children becoming casualties it has the same policy if you like as the united states with regard to collateral damage that it's happy to injure dozens of palestinian men women and children as long as they can kill one person who might have helped fire a rocket into israel shortly after a cease fire palestine celebrated gaining u.n. nonmember status but it's still a long way from statehood as is the region from

a peaceful two state solution israel and palestine this is what conflict continues to rage in neighboring syria you know that russia trying to possibly stay running his country. he has to go assad must go but charlotte said. demands and predictions that syria's president would fall in twenty trials went on for pilgrimage if you had sat down for an exclusive interview with r t well into the year insisting he would not give up as they push for regime change continued terror right in his country of them i'm not popular in me but with the with the twenty other countries i'm sick and i mean. i may be in syria and i have to be sensitive but it's going to be very everything from civil war to sectarian fighting to terrorism to genocide syria stay the center of a media war threw out twenty twelve which unconfirmed atrocities on both sides i

want to end the web and only one side the brunt of the blame for assad is crazy he's a brutal dictator he's killing his own people this is the same narrative that we heard about gadhafi. but we didn't hear much about libya in twenty twelve on most networks or from western officials not until the aftermath of regime change there and the terror that ensued went too far u.s. ambassador and embassy staff were killed in benghazi in september the most significant event two thousand and twelve is the failure of nato to follow up on its on its libya momentum to create a forced regime change through proxy. mercenaries in syria and the fact that russia and china and iran stood firm on. the entire time table that nato at that in mind to run this destabilisation. and now the entire arab spring scenario is. it's not disintegration it's becoming

a nightmare one that spread to western allies in the region like bahrain for mass protest arrest and even death haven't provoked much global media coverage or any push for democracy. instead provocations like the film the innocence of a muslim made headlines and incited outrage across the arab world funded in the u.s. and considered highly offensive to islam the movie didn't go over well in states now run by islamist after post revolution polls in egypt and tunisia. u.s. embassies were left in shambles as flags burned and freedom of speech was back on the debate or tonight the film was banned in some countries like russia and defended by others like the states as a protective device of expression a right not awarded to whistleblowers like julian assange and who had a busy year and here he was granted political asylum by ecuador after being

released on bail while the awaiting a british court's decision on his extradition to sweden for most of twenty twelve thousand remained under house arrest but still managed to find a great a leader can change the world tomorrow his groundbreaking exclusive interview show premiered on our teens and always on sat down with guests shunned by the mainstream media like has the last house on the front and internet freedom on his visit to the site where the future of the internet i think it's no journalist with the salt in the world working today has not used a wiki leaks cable whether it be at the lowest level of covering their local health center to the idea of schools a education let alone geopolitics still many journalists slammed the songes work on r t and he continues to be a man the west and mainstream media love to hate he remains holed up at the ecuadorian embassy in london fearing u.k.

officials will grab him the moment he steps outside. protests ripped across europe in two thousand and twelve as the euro crisis worsened leading many no choice but to go out onto the streets so many people are becoming desperate people of god get. think angrier and angrier spain had millions on the street at a time demanding the government stop cuts and demos continued in greece who got a forty four billion euro bailout masses were met with heavy handed policing in most countries across the e.u. which was awarded a nobel peace prize in twenty trials. they ultimately if there are too many protests won't be to be able to afford the policemen on the streets and therefore we could actually end up not so much with a violent reaction from government but there's actually a danger of an arche because government itself may break down but it is. not the case in the us where the occupy movement lost momentum this year corporate back

media and authorities managed to dull demonstrations demanding economic equality and responsibility is one of a party there where you know you wait for occupy to expand from its needs and from that. you know usually you ride it by the elites as a bunch of anarchist story or students who know how to see better to do this is to organize themselves politically something the group is promising in twenty thirteen with some predicting the old ws movement might have better luck in europe. russia saw protests this year leading up to and after vladimir putin was elected for a third time as president but not nearly as big as what we saw at the end of twenty young lavin i think the demonstrations in russia what motivated by frustration the demonstrators had the care political goal which was to discredit the the reputation of president putin or even to russia knowing that those plans could be continued

russian were going to win the election they had no choice they had no possibility of beating them in an election so they tried to their strategy was instead to discredit the east in the eyes of the west just before putin's inauguration protests in central moscow turned violent for the first time in three. an opposition movement began to rally against arrests were made in both protesters and police reported injuries several demonstrators face court hearings on charges of inciting mass public disorder and a dozen more trials will carry on in the new year with opposition claiming this is all part of a kremlin clampdown on their movement but putin's reelection and protests didn't get nearly as much attention as this. week was the riots rocked riot on the altar of christ the savior and the scandal that followed made world headlines took over the blog a sphere and had celebrities like madonna just sending them to the russian orthodox church was outraged. there is no defense in this case it's simple p.r.

lawyers uncorking up on ali fear they're working towards the brand in order to capitalize on it in the future and it's worked some of the groups girls got two years in jail for the stunt which was criticized by the west as too harsh the story remained in the headlines for weeks on end leaving little room for stories like this one over. a watch the way u.s. presidential candidate jill stein and her running mate arrested for protesting outside a debate for top party only candidates obama and romney the american system is designed to eliminate political opposition like some of the you know dictatorships that we criticize the debate makes a mockery of our democracy despite being on the ballot in a not states to technically win stine and other candidates were not allowed to debate and got almost no coverage in the lead up to elections on us networks

instead third party candidates only chance to debate live on television here was from artie's washington studio i think our founding fathers would be spinning it in their graves if they could see this. in line with holes and pretty. obama won the election but his work is cut out for along with other world leaders for the year to come a rough economy growing discontent and conflicts either standing still or raging wild and used to now a party. where we would love it when you get involved we always value your opinion you can tell us what group your attention the most. just post a tweet tweet hash tag the recall message to hearing your thoughts and reading some of them out during new year coverage as we approach. just about two and a half hours left to go here also online for you are. being told to take

a taste of their own medicine website now are. piling on the pounds. by having gastric bands and junk food. calories. over the english channel that. the french fry. their own invention. so new year's eve here in moscow this is are two. hundred thousand more people could die in syria over the next year if the government and the opposition doesn't start talking to each other the chilling prediction came from the un's

international peace envoy lakhdar brahimi also warned that the country would become a failed state ruled by. diplomacy is given a chance his proposed peace plan involves forming a transitional government based on an agreement between the. but the opposition is dismissing the initiative saying it won't ceasefire or join any talks unless president assad. but the member of the syria doddle going to action believes the rebels position is being instigated from the. well being next is a wide dialogue between all syrians but as we see the super powers in the world through the pressure of the opposition for dialogue and this mean. it's getting by the opposition panel of the. law who worked on this that we have gone there for a long time and it's been there after the and it's quite clear where they are coming from the border is with. the border they're going to the borders with jordan

are slightly off it as well and it's obvious that the international powers that with the powers are interested let me just work in small building. blocks is like turkey or part of the enough to do the job. order that's just about it from me for now but i do stay with us for the weeks sporting highlights with case that's come out can just well just a couple of minutes. looking at some jokes you simply do not believe they can speak and goodness how they can run oh oh it's an international sled dog race with those driving the dogs. coming from as far away as a strength in canada and the u.s.

they come to russia and everybody is so very friendly they welcomed me with open arms and the scenery is so beautiful it's very much like alaska and so i felt at home the first blood dog was brought here from australia now must have come to this remote ration village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail ira mazie. but even more amazing is the story of how racing first started here a toll it wasn't the tough mushers of sled dog racing who set the trail of lace but a nun and for all friends who brought their deer to life five years ago mother pressed care of a bill to dog kennel in the village kids from the local all when it came around to take care of the dogs and one day they state their life might seem extreme to some the boys wake up at six to feed the dogs before school in the evening they spend up to three hours training their four legged friends but mana per square also

encourages her kids to become depth hands on the computer and internet the boys regularly updated their website and they're in touch with their busy mother twenty four seven on the phone itself. but children are the most important thing my only interests not play any role anymore and regardless of whether parsky has hoskins window race or not she hopes the competition will take place in the village next year. but called these dogs and the children it really is not the weaning but truly just the taking part that counts. thank you.